Outbreaks of extremely cold air from the Antarctic, known as friagens, occur during the winter months. The friagen of 2003 killed more than half of all the country’s alpacas when temperatures plunged to minus 35 Celsius. Last winter’s cold weather reportedly killed 50,000 alpacas in the southern Puno region.

The fact that these deaths have occurred in the summer months do make it very unusual, but alpacas are not quite as tough as people often think.

They are not particularly good at foraging in cold or snowy weather. They also do not carry much body fat and their coats contain no water-resistant lanolin.

In recent days, there have been reports of heavy rain in the region. It may be that the animals’ coats have been penetrated by water, making them vulnerable to the combination of low temperatures and strong winds.

Alpaca wool is a major export in Peru. More than $150m of fleeces are sent abroad each year.

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Kunlere is an environment and sustainable development strategist with years of active experience in environmental compliance monitoring and enforcement. You may follow him on Twitter via @kunlere_idowu

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